Folding seat back and washbasin unit



W. 23,, 50 O. KUHLER 2,532,237

4 FOLDING SEAT BACK AND WASH BASIN UNIT Filed July 16, 1946 3Sheets-Sheet 1 7 m 1,. 3 2 u 2 t kmmwkbwfimvwwmu 2 a Q m v 3 0 E 5 T w M9m w w m m w fi my .D m T. S WA 3 T M wv U mm N .h a B (A? J 1 R w 1 1LE m if. L

D r w m K K m 0 B T .A E s G M vm A D L 0 F 6 M 0 l 5 w w 9 Va 8 n 2 J mw n N F 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 B i ln li R E L H U K O FOLDING SEAT BACK ANDWASH BASIN UNIT Filed July 16, 1946 Patented Nov. 2 8, 19 50 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE FOLDIN G SEAT BACK AND WASHBASIN UNIT Otto Kuhier,Blauvelt, N. Y., assignor to American Car and Foundry Company, New York,N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application July 16, 1946, Serial N0.684,042

8 Claims. 1

This invention relates to folding seat back and wash basin units andparticularly to such units containing a multiple number of wash basinsand intended for use in the general washroom of a railway vehicle.

a In railway vehicles there has been a trend in the last few yearstoward bettering the accommodations for the traveling public whileretaining as much as possible the amount of revenue space which can beoccupied by the people. In modern coaches and sleeping cars there isbeing provided space for smoking facilities in order that non-smokersmay not be annoyed, however, in a lot of cases it has been impossible toprovide a smokingroom and in addition a suitable washroom. Accordinglyone object of the invention is the combining of these two rooms byproviding a combination sofa and folding wash basin unit permitting theroom to be used as a smokingroom during the day and as a washroom duringthe early morning or at meal times.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a combinationupholstered seat back and wash basin, which when folded down for use asa wash basin does not expose unsightly catch basins.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of acombination seat back and wash basin unit folding down about the wastepipe and with the basin supplied through faucets rotating about the axisof one of the supply pipes.

A yet further object of the invention is the provision of foldingfaucets and bafile plates so arranged as to fully cover the spacebetween a down-folded wash basin and a wall structure against which itis normally folded.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to personsskilled in the art from a study of the following description andaccompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a sectional view taken througha railway car combination wash and smoke room;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken through the folding sofa unitand showing the back folded to basin exposed position;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the unit;

Fig. 4 is an elevational view of the unit in down-folded position butwith the faucets in their raised position for the purpose of betterdisplaying the supply pipes, and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail view of the pivoting arrangement betweenthe hot and cold water supply pipes whereby they may rotate around asingle axis.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, it

will be seen that the entire sofa unit S has been placed in thecombination Wash and smoke room M adjacent the aisle partition A. Thecar side walls are indicated at B and portions of the roof at B. Asindicated, the room will, in addition to the sofa, preferably containone or more movable chairs D and also may contain a fixed wash stand(not shown). The sofa unit is provided with a seat cushion 2 mounted ona base structure equipped with smal doors 4 behind which,

may be stored towels and other supplies. The aisle partition A may bethickened as shown in Fig. l to permit storage of water 6 therein,although preferably the partition will be made thin and the water supplytaken from pressure tanks mounted beneath the vehicle as is customary.

The combination sofa or seat back and basin unit U is mounted to rotateabout the axis of the waste pipe W. This waste pipe is supported byupright pipe connections 8 anchored to the floor and at least one ofthese upright pipes will be extended through the floor for discharge ofwaste water beneath the car either under the roadbed or into wastestorage tanks. The upright waste pipes 8 are connected to elbows it),which in turn support the horizontal waste pipe 52. pipe i2 and elbows[0 may be made by either means of right and left hand thread connectionor preferably by means of a standard rotatable connection. Thehorizontal waste pipe i2 has welded or otherwise attached thereto aplurality of brackets M which extend outwardly for direct connection tothe basins l6. These basins are bowl shaped with their upper flangedportions welded or otherwise secured to a top surface plate 18overlapping the bowl so as to prevent slopping during movement of thetrain and this top cover plate i8 is flanged downwardly as at 26 forattachment at the back edge to bracket I l and at the front or top edgefor overlapping and holding in place the upholstery cover '22. Thisupholstery covers the padding 24 held in place between the cover and thebasins It. As clearly shown, each basin is provided with an outletadapted to be closed by a plug or other means 26 permitting discharge ofmaterial from the basin into a discharge spout 28 welded or otherwisesecured to the basin and to the horizontal Waste pipe !2. A curved plate39 extends along the back of the basins, is attached thereto and curved.more or less eccentric around the waste pipe in order to support andback up the lower portion of the seat back. In

The connection between horizontal waste the down-folded position it isseen that this curved plate 30 will strike against stops 32 fastened onthe partition wall A thereby supporting the basin in the down-foldedposition of Fig. 2. The basin will be additionally supported by means offolding arm rests 34 resting on the seat cushion 2 and hinged to theback structure at 36 for swinging movements relative thereto.

Cold water will be supplied to the basins through pipes C to which areconnected the cold water faucets 45). The cold water supply pipes C aremounted for rotation in brackets 32 attached to the partition wall A andthese pipes extend from the right hand edge of Figs. 3 and 4 to a pointjust beyond the third faucet 49. Cold water supplied through this pipe Ccan flow to each of the cold water faucets through the T connections andshort pipes being under control of cold water valves Q4. The last T oncold water pipe C has one end blind to thereby provide a trunnion. :36(Fig. which may rotate in sleeve 48 which also. supports the blind ortrunnion end of a four-way T connected to the hot water supply pipe H.It will thus be seen that the hot and cold water supply pots will be inalignment and will rotate about the same axis during swinging of thefaucets. The left hand hot water faucet as viewed in Figs. 3 and 4 willbe connected by a short pipe 52 to one outlet of the four-way T, whilean elbow 5*?- will be connected to the other outlet and this in turnwill carry the hot water pipe from which branches 58 may extend tosupply hot water to the remaining hot water faucets. These hot waterfaucets are indicated at fili and flow of water thereto is controlled byhot water valves 62.

In order to protect and hide the piping a plate 64 is provided whichplate extends along the entire length of the sofa and wash basin unitand has a down turned flange 86 adapted to contact the uppe surface E8of the wash basin unit. From this flange the plate slopes upwardly andrearwardly to completely house the pipes and to have its free edge inengagement beneath the curved edge '59 of a finish plate l2 carried bythe partition wall. The lower curved edge of plate T2 is preferablyslightly resilient so to give good contact between plate 5:2 plate b t.It is, of course, obvious that the basins, cover plate f8, protectingplate and partition finish plate 5 2 will be quite suitable surfacefinish, that is, they may be made of polished nickel plated metal orcomparable material. Connection to the hot and cold water suppl pipesfrom the source may be made through either flexible hose connections orby having the elbows id made of standard swivei construction.

From the preceding it will be seen that when the sofa back is folded upfor normal day use it will provide a comfortable upholstered back forthe sofa and having folding arm rests to separate the seating spaces ifso desired. When it is desired to maize the three or more basinsavailable the back will be folded down into the position shown in 2, 1'which the faucet unit will be pulled down rrom its folded position shownby line and dash in 2 to its full line position, in other words, fromthe full line position of to the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In thedown-folded position the faucet units, are completely covered bydecorative plate 86 and the wall hidden by decorative plate '52, thusthe unsightly space between the wash basin and the partition wall willbe completely hidden by the faucet units and their covering plate. Inother words, when the unit is in the full down-folded position personsusing the same will only see the decorative plates, the short faucetends and the operating units connected to the not and cold water valves.When the unit is folded up to its position shown in Fig. 1 this may beaccomplished by merely folding the seat back up since the movement ofthe basin toward its folded position indicated in Fig. 2 willautomatically cause the hot and cold water faucets to swing about theaxis of their supply pipes to the folded position. In other words, thecombined back and basins swing or rotate about the waste pipe as anaxis, while the faucet units turn or rotate about the axis of the watersupply pipes which are connected to the source of supply either in thepartition wall or preferably to the pressure tanks beneath the car.

While the construction has been described more or less in detail withspecific reference to the drawings, it will be seen by persons skilledin the art that various modifications and rearrangements of parts, otherthan those shown or described, may bemade and all such modificationsandrearrangements of parts are contemplated as will fall within the scopeof the following claims defining my invention;

What is claim-ed is:

1. Ihe combination with a seat back rotatable from a substantiallyvertical to a substantially horizontal position about an axis, asubstantially horizontal waste pipe forming the axis of rotation forsaid seat back, a basin mounted within the seat back and accessible foruse when the seat back is in its substantially horizontal position,means connecting the waste pipe and basin whereby the basin and seatback are supported on the waste pipe for rotation about the axis of thewaste pipe, a passageway in certain of said means permitting drainage ofsaid basin into said waste pipe while the seat back is in itssubstantially horizontal position, and fluid supply means for supplyingfluid to said basin, said fluid supply means being mounted for rotationabout an axis substantially parallelto said waste pipe and located aboveand to one side of said waste pipe.

2. The combination with a seat back rotatable from a substantiallyvertical to a substantially horizontal position about an axis, asubstantially horizontal waste pipe forming the axis of rotatie-n forsaid back, a basin mounted within the seat back and accessible for usewhen the seat back is in its substantiall horizontal position, meansconnecting the waste pipe and basin whereby the basin and seat back aresupported on the waste pipe for rotation about the axis of the wastepipe, a passageway in certain of said means permitting drainage of saidbasin into said waste pipe while the seat back is in its substantallyhorizontal position, fluid supply means for supplyingfluid to saidbasin, said fluid supply means being mounted for rotation about an axissubstantially parallel tosaid waste pipe and located above and to oneside of said wastepipe, and plate means attached to said fluid supplymeans and movable therewith to cover the same when in position to supplyfluid to said basin.

3. The combination with a wall structure, a basin unit normally foldedin a substantially vertical inoperative position against said wallstructure, a waste pipe extending substantially parallel to said wallstructure, bracket means connected to said basin and supporting the sameon said waste pipe for rotation therewith relative to said wallstructure from said inoperative position to a substantially horizontaloperative position, means rigidly connected to said basin and waste pipeto discharge the basin contents into said waste pipe when the basin isin its operative position, water supply pipes mounted on said wall androtatable relative thereto about an axis substantially parallel to saidwaste pipe, faucets connected to said water supply pipes and rotatabletherewith from a vertical inoperative position to a substantiallyhorizontal operative position for discharge of water into said basin.

4. The combination with a wall structure, a basin unit normally foldedin a substantially vertical inoperative position against said wallstructure, a waste pipe extending substantially parallel to said wallstructure, bracket means connected to said basin and supporting the sameon said waste pipe for rotation therewith relative to said wallstructure from said inoperative position to a substantially horizontaloperative position, means rigidly connected to said basin and waste pipeto discharge the basin contents into said waste pipe when the basin isin its operative position, a pair of water supply pipes mounted on saidwall and rotatable relative thereto about an axis substantially parallelto said waste pipe, faucets connected to said water supply pipes androtatable therewith from a vertical inoperative position to asubstantially horizontal operative position for discharge of water intosaid basin, and plate means connected to said water supply pipes androtatable therewith, said plate means fully concealing said water supplypipes and spanning the space between the wall and basin when said basinand faucets are in their operative positions.

5. The combination with a wall structure, a plurality of basinsconnected to form a unit normally folded in a substantially verticalinoperative position against said wall structure, a waste pipe extendingsubstantially parallel to said wall structure, bracket means connectingsaid basins together and to said waste pipe and supporting the same onsaid waste pipe for rotation relative to said wall structure from saidinoperative position to a substantially horizontal operative position,means rigidly connected to each of said basins and to the waste pipe todischarge the basin contents into said waste pipe when the basins are intheir operative position, separate water pipes for supplying hot andcold water to said basin, valve structures connected to said pipes tocontrol the flow of water, and means mounting at least portions of saidseparate water pipes in axial alignment on said wall for rotationrelative thereto about the axis of said portions of the pipes.

6. The combination with a wall structure. a plurality of basinsconnected to form a unit normally folded in a substantially verticalinoperative position against said wall structure, a waste pipe extendingsubstantially parallel to said wall structure, spaced apart bracketmeans connecting said basins together and to said waste pipe to supportthe same on said waste pipe for rotation therewith relative to said wallstructure from said inoperative position to a substantially horizontaloperative position, means rigidly connected to each of said basins andto said waste pipe to discharge the basin contents into said waste pipewhen the basins are in their operative position, separate water pipesfor supplying hot and cold water to said basins, means mounting portionsat least of said separate water pipes in axial alignment on said wallfor rotation relative thereto about an axis located to one side of andparallel to said waste pipe, faucet members connected to said pipes androtatable therewith from an inoperative position within the inoperativebasin to an operative position for discharge into the basin when in itsoperative position.

7. The combination with a wall structure, a basin unit normally foldedin a substantially vertical inoperative position against said wallstructure, a waste pipe extending substantially parallel to said wallstructure, spaced apart bracket means connected to said basin andsupportin the same on said waste pipe for rotation relative to said wallstructure from said inoperative position to a substantially horizontaloperative position, means connected to said basin and waste pipe todischarge the basin contents into said waste pipe when the basin is inits operative position, water pipes extending parallel to each other andto said Waste pipe for supplying hot and cold water to said basin, meansmounting portions at least of said water pipes in axial alignment onsaid wall for rotation relative thereto, faucet members connected tosaid pipes and rotatable therewith from an inoperative position withinthe inoperative basin to an operative position for dscharge into thebasin when in its operative position, and plate means connected to saidpipe portions and concealing said water pipes and faucets when in theiroperative position.

8. The combination with a basin unit adapted to be mounted adjacent awall structure and rotatable about an axis substantially parallel tosaid wall structure from an inoperative to a substantially horizontaloperative position in which the inner edge of the basin is spacedoutwardly from the wall, a supply unit for fluid under pressure mountedadjacent the wall structure and rotatable about an axis substantiallyparallel to said first named axis and located above and to the wall sideof said first named axis, and plate means secured to said supply unitand rotatable therewith, said plate means fully concealing said supplyunit and spanning the space between said basin unit and wall structurewhen in position to supply fluid under pressure to said basin.

QTTO KUI-ILER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,080,702 Legge Dec. 9, 19131,122,444 Vaughan 1. Dec. 29, 1914 1,746,422 Gorham Feb. 11, 19301,831,937 Watrous Nov. 1'7, 1931 2,076,950 Koch Apr. 13, 1937 2,101,523Willis Dec. 7, 1937

